Are you a dreamer? All of us dream while we sleep, but not all of us remember our dreams and most of them do not have any significance other than this is the way our brain processes the happenings of the day prior. However, dreams have given significant insight and understanding to affirm, confirm and lead different Biblical characters. Abraham, Jacob, Joseph and others in the Old Testament as well as Jesus’ earthly father Joseph, Paul the apostle and others who had encounters with God that directed the course of their life.

But, did you know that God is a dreamer? Since He is God, He actually initiates His own dreams! I recently heard a quote by Lou Engle stating “God had a dream and He wrapped our body around it.” He has a specific dream that is unique for each one of us that He has had prepared from eternity past. When you are born, that dream begins to unfold. How do you discover what God has dreamed about you and for you?

One of the main ways we begin to see the details of God’s dreams for us is by spending time in the “secret place” – that place you should visit often where you and the Lord have some one on one time. It is there that you really get to know Him and His dreams for you. My sanctified imagination takes me to a garden usually, although recently it has been beside a peaceful body of water. Wherever you and the Lord can commune and have encounters together.

He may ask you a few questions to help you understand His dreams for you. “What are the moments in your life that cause your heart to leap for joy?” You may respond with “What is the dream that You (God) wrapped my body around?” If you are really serious about finding out His dreams for you and are willing to take some time with Him, you may get bold enough to ask Him “What are You leading me to grow in and develop – by the end of this year?” Putting a time commitment on your question means that you will have to respond when you think He has spoken to you!

Is this a black and white, yes or no, obedience or disobedience thing? I don’t think so! I know that the more time you “hang out” with Him, the more confidence you will have that He is speaking to you and that you are hearing His voice. But just like your young children, there is a learning curve in which you delight to watch them learn to know what pleases you. You do not punish them for trying something new, for making mistakes, but sometimes you do have to clean up a mess or two and communicate to them that there is a better or different way! You do not want them to be afraid of you and so you allow them the freedom to be creative, but they are still learning. They will make messes and mistakes, but you still love them and realize this is only a season that they will soon pass through.

Maybe you have had dreams in past seasons that never came to pass. Maybe you are in a place of disappointment, because your dreams were dashed to pieces by circumstances beyond your control. Thousands of people can probably identify with this scenario. It is what you do next that is of the upmost importance. When you are disappointed or discouraged or even feeling hopeless, what is the next step? For me, it is coming back to the realization of two absolutes. Yes, there are a few things that I base my life upon. One is that God is good – all of the time – no exceptions. Is what is happening always good – of course not. Can He work things together for a good outcome? Absolutely. But you must resolve the truth that He is always good before the bad things happen, before things that you cannot understand take place.

The other absolute I base my life upon is that God is faithful and trustworthy. Again, even when circumstances appear to be otherwise, we cannot always see the bigger picture. “We see through a glass darkly …” according to the Word of God. That simply means we can’t always see the whole picture, but only a piece of it. What I have come to understand and experience is that given a period of time and more revelation, the circumstances usually make more sense. But, even if there is not clear understanding or revelation, can we still trust Him?

I am thinking of examples from the scriptures of those to whom God had spoken to and that had to wait many years for the fulfillment of the dream that God had put in their heart. Abraham desired a son from his own loins through his barren wife Sarah. God had a dream for that to happen and that the lineage of Messiah would come through this one. Even though Abraham tried to make it happen in a different way (Hagar and Ishmael), the Lord saw his faith, though weak at times, would ultimately sustain him until the time that Isaac was born and then again when he was asked to sacrifice him upon an altar.

I have quoted Martin Luther King many times over the years concerning his now famous speech with the line “I have a dream”. He did not live long enough to see this God-given dream come to pass, but in the heart of God was a dream where He was able to begin the fulfillment of it through His servant who spoke it out and did everything he could to demonstrate how that could happen. We still do not see the fullness of what King was envisioning but we will. These “Red Hills of Georgia” have seen descendants of both slaves and slave owners sit around the table together breaking bread and dreaming for the day when God’s original dream will be fully realized. Every step forward brings us one step closer to the fulfillment of this God given dream.

Our God has many, many dreams that He wants to fulfill through you and I. Sit with Him and let Him share with you His dreams for you and then ask Him how to begin to see them come to pass. Ask Holy Spirit where to begin and how to grow His dream through you.